BJP Wins Cheers at Home,
But Foreign Caution Grows

By

Jonathan Karp Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated May 18, 1998 12:01 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI -- For its first 53 days in power, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party struggled to impose its leadership on squabbling coalition partners who controlled the Indian government's fate. The commerce minister complained openly that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wasn't being assertive, even saying the 73-year-old leader's battle fatigue "makes him look rather weak."